After reading through the Black Swan thread, I figured this could use a thread of it's own.
Anyway, of this year's major contenders, I've seen The Social Network, Black Swan and The King's Speech, all of which I enjoyed. I guess I can mention seeing Inception too, but unfortunately that's one of those films that's just 'an honor to be nominated'. I haven't seen The Fighter yet, but I'm hoping to get out and see it this weekend. Has anybody else seen it? What do you think? How does it stack up against the other Oscar contenders?
My favorite in the race right now is The Social Network. I think it's both highly relevant and surprisingly entertaining; usually Oscar movies are either downers or totally dry - sometimes both. But with Social Network, I was engaged and entertained the whole way through. I also really like it because I feel strongly about Facebook and what it's how it's affecting the social norm, and I think this film shines a spotlight on some of the less savory aspects of why people use it - for example, the site got it's start from Zuckerberg's Harvard-girl-rating website, the film version of Zuckerberg is portrayed to have been motivated by his breakup, etc. I guess I'll just mention Aaron Sorkin's script, and that it's fantastic. Not much more to say, really.
The King's Speech I quite enjoyed, but it gets minus points from me for being total Oscar bait. It's not at all challenging, it's just a sterile, well-crafted crowd-pleaser. Colin Firth is likely going to get the Best Actor award for this one, but mostly because it's 'his turn' this year, and less so for this film. Not like he was bad of course, far from it. I more enjoyed Geoffrey Rush's performance as his speech therapist, amusing and even slightly pathetic, endearingly so, at just the right moments, like when he's auditioning for that acting company or whatever.
Black Swan has got it's own thread, so no sense going over it again in here. I think the consensus among Smogon is that it's pretty damn good.
Of course, there are plenty of other Oscar categories besides Best Picture and it's ilk. I guess I'm not surprised, just a little bummed that Daft Punk didn't get a nod for their Tron score. The film itself was pretty unremarkable, but I thought Daft was an inspired choice and would've liked to see them get some recognition. And it'd be awesome to see them get up on stage and accept the award.
Speaking of artists who wear masks, I was really excited to see Exit Through the Gift Shop nominated for Best Documentary - it was easily my favorite film that I saw last year. Wildly entertaining, and asks some really great questions about the nature of art, who should be allowed to make it, etc. It's probably not going to win though, because the Academy is made up of a bunch of dated killjoys:
http://collider.com/academy-awards-banksy-exit-through-the-gift-shop/75541/
I could go on, but this is probably enough to get the discussion going. What are your top picks? What do you think of the nominees? Anybody got Oscar pools going on at school/work/whatever?
Anyway, of this year's major contenders, I've seen The Social Network, Black Swan and The King's Speech, all of which I enjoyed. I guess I can mention seeing Inception too, but unfortunately that's one of those films that's just 'an honor to be nominated'. I haven't seen The Fighter yet, but I'm hoping to get out and see it this weekend. Has anybody else seen it? What do you think? How does it stack up against the other Oscar contenders?
My favorite in the race right now is The Social Network. I think it's both highly relevant and surprisingly entertaining; usually Oscar movies are either downers or totally dry - sometimes both. But with Social Network, I was engaged and entertained the whole way through. I also really like it because I feel strongly about Facebook and what it's how it's affecting the social norm, and I think this film shines a spotlight on some of the less savory aspects of why people use it - for example, the site got it's start from Zuckerberg's Harvard-girl-rating website, the film version of Zuckerberg is portrayed to have been motivated by his breakup, etc. I guess I'll just mention Aaron Sorkin's script, and that it's fantastic. Not much more to say, really.
The King's Speech I quite enjoyed, but it gets minus points from me for being total Oscar bait. It's not at all challenging, it's just a sterile, well-crafted crowd-pleaser. Colin Firth is likely going to get the Best Actor award for this one, but mostly because it's 'his turn' this year, and less so for this film. Not like he was bad of course, far from it. I more enjoyed Geoffrey Rush's performance as his speech therapist, amusing and even slightly pathetic, endearingly so, at just the right moments, like when he's auditioning for that acting company or whatever.
Black Swan has got it's own thread, so no sense going over it again in here. I think the consensus among Smogon is that it's pretty damn good.
Of course, there are plenty of other Oscar categories besides Best Picture and it's ilk. I guess I'm not surprised, just a little bummed that Daft Punk didn't get a nod for their Tron score. The film itself was pretty unremarkable, but I thought Daft was an inspired choice and would've liked to see them get some recognition. And it'd be awesome to see them get up on stage and accept the award.
Speaking of artists who wear masks, I was really excited to see Exit Through the Gift Shop nominated for Best Documentary - it was easily my favorite film that I saw last year. Wildly entertaining, and asks some really great questions about the nature of art, who should be allowed to make it, etc. It's probably not going to win though, because the Academy is made up of a bunch of dated killjoys:
http://collider.com/academy-awards-banksy-exit-through-the-gift-shop/75541/
I could go on, but this is probably enough to get the discussion going. What are your top picks? What do you think of the nominees? Anybody got Oscar pools going on at school/work/whatever?
